Secret video leaked by prisoners from inside the Egypt prison where Peter Greste is being held

SECRET footage leaked from the jail where Peter Greste is held shows he sleeps on a dirt floor, cooking gear piled next to a filthy open toilet.

by HOLLY BYRNES National TV writer

News Corp AustraliaJune 26, 20148:06am

Don't give up on Peter Greste2:57

Vision smuggled from Egyptian prisons paints a bleak picture for Peter Greste, but colleague Montaser Marai, who filmed the the 2011 uprising says Al Jezeera won't give up on its journalists

June 25th 2014

4 years ago

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SHOCKING video images of the decaying conditions inside the Egyptian prison now holding Australian journalist Peter Greste have added greater urgency to the global media campaign pushing for his release.

Secret vision leaked by prisoners show darkened cells, where prisoners are sleeping on dirt floors, shoulder-to-shoulder under blankets, beside open dirty and rusting ‘pit’ toilets.

Awful conditions ... prisoners sleep in same room as open ‘pit’ toilets and shower cubicles in Tora prison.Source:Supplied

Montesar Marai, a senior producer for Al Jazeera, told News Corp the images had been smuggled out of the jails by inmates desperate for the world to see the “bad conditions.”

“They are suffering and it’s like small rooms, no light, not enough oxygen...it’s very very bad conditions. All the Egyptian prisons I think are like this because I have seen many videos from different prisons...they are all the same.”

Marai, who filmed the Arab Spring uprising back in early 2011, is now too fearful of media treatment in Egypt to risk returning.

The Palestinian-born, now Doha-based camera man and documentary filmmaker braved the protests which brought down Hosni Mubarak to bring the world vision of the public unrest three years ago.

Hiding in an empty apartment above Tahrir Square, he shot the revolution unfolding below, with the rolling coverage later seen by millions around the world.

Horrific inside .. the prison in Egypt where Peter Greste is being held.Source:Supplied

In Sydney to campaign on behalf of his three jailed colleagues, including Greste, Marai told News Corp: “the battle between the journalist and they people who they are challenging is not easy and will not end with this issue.”

While many journalists had, unsurprisingly, been terrified by the treatment of Greste and his co-workers as criminals and terrorists, Marai said the world’s media must not be cowered and continue to stand united against injustice.

“We have to be patient and to keep fighting, stand together and keep this issue alive all the time. It’s what we’ve done with our colleagues, who have been (jailed) in Guantanamo and Spain or wherever.”

Greste and his Al Jazeera co-accused Egyptian-Canadian bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed were this week sentenced to seven years imprisonment on charges of “aiding the Muslim Brotherhood and reporting false news.”

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The trio were arrested in their makeshift offices in an upscale hotel suite back in December, and swiftly dubbed “the Marriott terror cell’’ by their captors.

Despite diplomatic pleadings from governments around the world, including Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and foreign minister Julie Bishop, the Egyptian President has refused to intervene in the court’s decision.

Marai said those who believed in democracy should campaign to help free his colleagues, keeping the story and their hopes “alive.”

“We don’t want to see Peter and our colleagues stay in prison for seven years...we will keep fighting, we won’t give up. I’m afraid people will forget quickly. Sometimes the news coverage will be hot for a few days then everyone will go back and forget. I hope all the media and the people (public) stands up for our colleagues...not just for Al Jazeera but for all journalists in the world, because today is Al Jazeera, next time it could be someone else.”